You want him to play his 'Gold Medal' match every time? Get real! Andy only ever plays as well as he 'needs' to.......and rightly so! I'm sure we're all sorry he never came up to your high standards this time!

Where exactly did I say that's what I expected of him every time???? I simply commented that I don't agree it was as high quality as he thinks which I am entitled to think as a viewer.

You think he should only as well as he needs?? fine that's your opinion. I think it's best he finished each match as swiftly as possible, keeping errors to a minimum..that's MY opinion. See how this works......??????????

As for you being sorry, I didn't ask you to do so and I don't expect you to apologise on behalf of others. Don't like what I say? That's fine, but please spare me your passive aggressive nonsense, it's not what I'm here for.

Maybe Andy could ask you to play Istomin for him and see how you get on.

Millman put up a fight in the second, which I personally always like to see, but it was clear Andy was too strong for him. Andy just had a momentary loss of focus in the second. To call it anything else is, frankly, absurd. Once he regained his focus at the start of the third, he was perfectly fine. Yes, there is some room for improvement, but so there should be at this point.

Meanwhile, just read that Raonic is out, beaten by Dimitrov in straight sets. I'd quite like to see Dimitrov play Andy.

Trust me, I support Andy whole heartedly and spend an awful lot of time following his progress, defending him from friends, family and colleagues negative and unjustified opinions. But on here, if I don't agree with something I'd like to think I can voice that concern without passive aggressive comments being made in return.

Thanks.

Search through the match threads, you'll see for yourself everyone can get down and critical when he's not playing as-well as we know he can.

Given that AO is just around the corner, it's probably best for Andy to go there with a bit of a low profile, so a stellar performance this early on is highly unlikely here in Brisbane.

Last year here he had a hiccup in one of the earlier rounds but then went on to win the tournament. But the idea is to win a match, tournament etc. How you win it doesn't really matter in the end as long as you win it.

Search through the match threads, you'll see for yourself everyone can get down and critical when he's not playing as-well as we know he can.

Not 'everyone'. Personally I can grasp how Andy won't play his best every time and won't win every match, even if we want him to. What I can also grasp is that playing qualifiers isn't half as easy as it sounds. They've played three matches to get in to the tournament, so they've found some rhythm and feel. Also, playing someone you've never played before isn't easy either, and it doesn't matter who you are.

I didn't see the first set, so I can't comment on that, but it seems to me that Andy just played a couple of loose games in the second set. It was a momentary blip in concentration. Maybe it had all been too easy for him until that point. That's happened before.

One of the things no one has remarked upon is that Andy's serving was pretty good. According to the ATP stats his FSP was 71% for the match. That's good for Andy. I'd be interested in the UE stats, but I can't find it anywhere.

The fact is that Andy won, that's good enough for me. I just think the fact that there is room for improvement is good. I don't want him peaking too early lol.

I think he was Ruthie. "It was a real high quality match," Murray said in his courtside interview. "I expected a tough match. He is a lot better than his ranking, that is for sure."

There were some good rallies there with Millman getting some shots back that you might not have expected given his ranking and experience.

That's how I read the quote too. He'd be slated, quite rightly IMO, if he'd said that he'd played terribly, without giving any credit to his (local) opponent. Leave that sort of thing to Federer. That would be true even if it weren't his first competitive match of the year in a small tournament where he's not expected to be playing 100%

There is a longer quote from the ATP article, which I believe also lends weight to the theory that Andy was being both gracious and realistic, rather than being in denial about playing fantastically.

Quote

"I think it was a pretty high quality match," said Murray. "The first set wasn't that comfortable. [In the second set] he gained in confidence and started going for his shots more. He was returning my first serve extremely well and playing right up on the baseline and just going for big shots. It was tough for me to dictate too many of the points. I made some adjustments with the way I was serving in the third set that turned it around, but he played really, really well for the most part.

"I wasn't too disappointed with the way I played tonight either, so it was a good first match for me. For a first match of the year, that was a perfect match in many ways to go through some tough moments, a lot of long rallies, close games, and important points."

I also agree with whoever said you cannot assume an easy victory over a qualifier, especially one who has made it to the second round, and even more especially when it's your first match in a while and he's buoyed up by local enthusiasm, and the knowledge that the 2nd seed had already fallen, and the news of Tomic beating Djokovic (even in an exho).

One of the things no one has remarked upon is that Andy's serving was pretty good. According to the ATP stats his FSP was 71% for the match. That's good for Andy. I'd be interested in the UE stats, but I can't find it anywhere.

The fact is that Andy won, that's good enough for me. I just think the fact that there is room for improvement is good. I don't want him peaking too early lol.

Not seen any unforced errors stats for any of the sets yet but there was an awful lot of netted shots and wide shots too esp in the second set, good that the FS did well.

In hindsight I agree with Andy's comments from his presser about how long rallies and tough points early in a tournament are better for him later on.

""That was the perfect first match for me in many ways, to go through some tough moments, a lot of long rallies and close games and important points, and to come through."

Tbh I think Andy was being a bit of a hyper condriact. We all know he usually has niggling injuries but he over exagerrates them when things don't go his way.,

I want to agree, I think when he grabbed his stomach he said "oh no what is this pain I feel, don't let this be a problem" and his focus went totally away. And then in the third set he decided to play instead of worry and he was able to win. He will get himself checked out and hopefully he will be fine for the rest of the tournament. People are expecting more out of Andy now and that will put pressure on him.

RT @BrisbaneTennis: "It was a real high quality match," said @andy_murray after his 6-1 5-7 6-3 win over #Aussie John Millman tonight. http://t.co/ClmtUScv

Not sure I agree with this statement, high quality from Millman maybe, not from Andy though and certainly not to the standard we've come to expect.

Milly...This certainly 'sounds' as though you expect him to play his 'A' game all the time and I'm sure we'd all be delighted if he could, but unfortunately, that's not possible for any of the players. You also infer that though 'maybe' Millman played a high quality game, "but not from Andy".......Surely the quality of Andy's game had to be better or he'd have lost! Also, you seem to think that I said "I think that Andy should only play as well as he needs", but what I 'actually' said was that Andy only ever plays as well as he needs, which is entirely different.....and it's 'not' my opinion.....it's a fact! He steps up a gear when he needs to, as he did today! Of course that only works if he doesn't leave it too late! Thank God today he didn't! Yes, people do get down and critical when he doesn't play as well as we know he can, but that usually happens when he loses......not when he wins! Sometimes he wins 'ugly', but a win is a win and that's usually good enough for most people. Today, apart from his little blip, I happen to think he played good enough! Now 'that is' my opinion!

Milly...This certainly 'sounds' as though you expect him to play his 'A' game all the time and I'm sure we'd all be delighted if he could, but unfortunately, that's not possible for any of the players. You also infer that though 'maybe' Millman played a high quality game, "but not from Andy".......Surely the quality of Andy's game had to be better or he'd have lost! Also, you seem to think that I said "I think that Andy should only play as well as he needs", but what I 'actually' said was that Andy only ever plays as well as he needs, which is entirely different.....and it's 'not' my opinion.....it's a fact! He steps up a gear when he needs to, as he did today! Of course that only works if he doesn't leave it too late! Thank God today he didn't! Yes, people do get down and critical when he doesn't play as well as we know he can, but that usually happens when he loses......not when he wins! Sometimes he wins 'ugly', but a win is a win and that's usually good enough for most people. Today, apart from his little blip, I happen to think he played good enough! Now 'that is' my opinion!

There is some rediculous comments on here re: muzza's win vs John the Mailman ( or whatever his name is). First proper match of the season in a warm up to a major event. Give Andy a break....job done...next!